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Robert L Slater

ALL IS SILENCE

Synopsis

What if death forgot you?
In a future that could be ours, Lizzie, a suicidal teen-age girl, barely navigates her own life. Then everything falls apart. In a world ravaged by disease, Lizzie, is one of the few left alive. The freeway on the other side of her street sits eerily silent, the daily sirens and the warnings to stay inside have faded.
Lizzie said, “I hope you all die!” Then they did. Almost everyone. Her alcoholic mother and her little brother are dying in the hospital; her mom’s abusive boyfriend is dead. Despite her words, being alone isn’t a good thing for an suicidal cutter. Fear of the disease has kept her inside, frozen with indecision.
When she finally ventures out, she finds survivors: people altered by the disease, left less than human, and people less scarred, some from her past. A shocking turn of events leaves blood on her hands and reveals a link to a stranger she thought was dead. As Bellingham, her hometown, turns dangerous; they flee south through Seattle and across deserted lands seeking the stranger, safety and hope for new beginnings. Along the way people join their quest. They encounter fledgling governments, new and old religious fanatics and marauding renegades. In a world with plenty of food, plenty of gas, plenty of space… fear, anger and lust for power still control the patterns of human life.

Author Biography

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Robert L. Slater wanted to be an astronaut or a rock star. At 42, he gave up those dreams to become a writer of science fiction and fantasy, where he can pretend to be both.
Like some of his characters, he has a propensity for speaking in lines from 80s movies, drinking Mountain Dew and eating pizza. He loves music as a listener, a zealous fan, a guitar player, and a singer/songwriter.
After nearly 20 years as a schoolteacher, and 35 as a teenager, he is beginning to have a hint of insight into young-adulthood. He has been in that hood a long time!

Author Insight

Lizzie - An Anti-Heroine

I wanted to immediately give some idea that Lizzie is far from perfect and has issues with authority and anger. Also, setting up the near future and severity of the pandemic...

Book Excerpt

ALL IS SILENCE

“I HOPE YOU ALL DIE!”

Those weren’t the last words Lizzie had told her family, but they might as well have been. She couldn’t remember what she said when Mama took Jayce and Jerkwad to the hospital, but it didn’t matter anyway. They were gone, and all she could remember were the screaming fights and hateful words.

Lizzie stared out through the gap in the dust-encrusted living room blinds. The streets were empty. At first patrol cars had come by several times a day blaring, “STAY INDOORS. NO PHYSICAL CONTACT.”

Now all was silent. Lizzie couldn’t remember when she had last seen a patrol car.

The clock showed mid-afternoon, but the gray excuse for a day in the Pacific Northwest was fading. Lizzie hauled herself out of the threadbare recliner and trudged to Mama’s bedroom. She snuggled under the covers wondering what she should eat for dinner. Mama had filled the freezer with pizzas before she left, but the same menu for a week was getting old.

Holes in the sheetrock beside the nightstand and the wires hanging out reminded her of the dead land-line. The day they went to St. Joseph’s Hospital, Mama called to say Jason, Jayce to Lizzie, was in room 314. The next day the phone didn’t work. At some point, fixing it became tearing it out of the wall in frustration.

Cell systems had been overloaded since state officials declared the pandemic four weeks before. With the phones down and spotty Internet, Lizzie was alone and disconnected from what was happening. She wanted to go outside. Screw the quarantine.

AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” jerked Lizzie back to her surroundings. Her cell phone? When had it started working? She threw off the covers and followed the sound to the couch in the living room. A picture of Mama that Lizzie loved and Mama hated glowed on the screen.